This is the 52nd edition of Business Matters, which was launched Oct. 2, 2011. The business section tab replaced the broadsheet business section that had been part of the Sunday Telegram for years. For those of you unfamiliar with newspaper terms, broadsheet sections are the typical, folded-in-the-middle sections that make up most newspapers, including the T&G. Tabs are shorter, are folded along the side and open up like a magazine. As part of my job as editor I have been writing a column in this space. I've had a lot of fun with it, digging out stories from legal notices or real estate transactions, or from conversations or emails with colleagues, business people and readers.

In January I wrote my favorite column of the past 12 months. It was about Creative Packaging, a paper processing factory on James Street in Worcester that had closed down. One of my colleagues, who passed the building on his way to work every week, noticed some activity and suggested I pop in.

I wrote:

“To sum up: Creative Packaging is no more. Its only item of real value, its processing machine, is owned by someone else. Its building is staffed, minimally to be sure, by former employees who are working for the company that owns the machine. The owners of Creative Packaging are broke. The company owners' wives own the building. The building is saddled with serious debt. The machine's owners would like to get the business going again, but can't without owning the building.”

I found out later that the two wives had no idea that their names were tied to the ownership — and the huge debt — of the defunct company. One former Creative employee told me one of the wives found out she actually owned the factory when her hairdresser handed her a copy of my column.

In October of last year, I toured the Wachusett Potato Chip Co. factory in Fitchburg. I had seen a real estate transaction indicating the Water Street factory was being sold to Utz Snack Food Co. of Hanover, Pa.

Then-company President Edward S. Krysiak told me a funny story during the tour. As you might imagine, the factory uses a lot of cooking oil, and it collects in a vat. The latest trend in alternative fuels was for companies to collect the used cooking oil to convert it into fuel, or as an additive to diesel fuel. Wouldn't it be better to make a little money off the used cooking oil, or at least stop paying for someone to haul it away?

But Mr. Krysiak told me he was not confident enough in the trend to fire the company that had been collecting his factory's cooking oil for years. If the trend faded, or the pickups were not regular, he would be stuck with used cooking oil. He did not want to let the trusted vendor go, just to test the waters on a shaky venture.

Mr. Krysiak retired in June. His nephew Barry Krysiak, a 24-year veteran of the family business, was promoted to director of operations at the factory.

I'm happy to report that the factory has added a second shift and is producing chips under both the Utz and Wachusett labels. The factory has added about 35 new employees to handle the extra shift.

“We're making chips from 7 a.m. to midnight,” Barry Krysiak said. The factory also produces potato sticks, and may expand into corn chips and another kind of chip in the near future.

I wrote a column in March about a worldwide helium shortage, and the reasons behind it. I seriously considered sucking in a lungful of helium, recording a video of myself reading the column in a funny voice, and then posting the video on the Web. I decided against doing it, I guess out of respect for the industry analyst who spent so much time explaining the shortage to me.

I had some column missteps as well.

My biggest regret was making fun of a hard-of-hearing West Boylston businessman whose Sutton land had been foreclosed on. As one reader emailed to me, under the subject heading “Disgraceful”: “Life can be cruel — and times have been hard on folks (whether well-liked or not). Aaron, you must feel very proud to be able to publicly kick a soul who is down on his luck.”

Well, I wasn't proud of that one. But I've had lots more that I loved.

I'm curious to hear what you think about Business Matters. Do you have any suggestions? Anything you'd like to see added to the section? Send me an email, call me on the phone or write a letter. I'd like to know how we can make Business Matters better in its next 12 months.

Contact Aaron Nicodemus by email at anicodemus@telegram.com or at (508) 793-9245.

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